Museum of Flying is pleased to announce its new home at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, that features a display and exhibit area of nearly 22,000 square feet.
The new Museum provides displays and interpretive exhibits on the history of flight and the development and growth of the aviation and aerospace industry in Southern California. Based on our heritage, the Museum will place heavy emphasis on the Douglas Aircraft Company and the history of the Santa Monica Airport.
The new Museum features nearly 2 dozen aircraft chronicling the beginning of flight, from a replica Wright Flyer all the way to the jet age including a FedEx 727 nose section. The Museum also features a broad collection of aviation art, rare artifacts, and ephemera from famous aviators. The museum creates a hands-on interactive and education center for children that includes a T-33 cockpit trainer, and a Convair 240 nose.
The Mezzanine of the new Museum features a replica of the Douglas Aircraft Company Executive Board room, and recreation of the office of Donald W. Douglas, Founder & Chairman of the Douglas Aircraft Company. The mezzanine also houses the new Museum Theater and Screening Room.
Early Aviation Hangar Bay
We recommend that our visitors begin their experience at the Museum with the Early Aviation Hangar Bay. The star attraction is our Wright Flyer replica that was featured in the movie “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” The bay also highlights the first Air Meet in the United States in 1910 at Dominguez Hills, California when aviators from all over the country and Europe came to Southern California for the first aerial competition. Also on exhibit are examples of early aircraft design and a display on hot air balloons.
Aircraft Display Gallery
The first floor of the Museum is where visitors find most of the aircraft on display. The aircraft display occasionally rotates as we periodically have visiting aircraft. Look above in this area as there are a number of aircraft suspended from the high ceiling. Individual signage on each of the aircraft can be easily found in this section.
Interactive Area
The Museum features a hands-on interactive area for children with open cockpits in a Convair 240 nose section, and a static cockpit trainer for a Lockheed T-33 aircraft. On the mezzanine level above the children’s area is the Boeing 727 aircraft front section and cockpit donated by FedEx. Here children of all ages can sit in the pilot and co-pilots seats and get an orientation on flying a commercial aircraft. Visitors can also monitor the local control tower radio communications and enjoy a direct view to the runway of the Santa Monica Airport.
Museum Screening Room
Located on the mezzanine level, the Museum screens aviation-related documentaries, famous aviation themed films and historic test footage during regular operating hours. Douglas Aircraft Executive Boardroom Adjacent to the screening room is the Douglas Aircraft Executive Boardroom. It features the famous “table in the round” with an illuminated globe of the earth in the center. This amazing artifact commemorates the first round-the-world flight by the Douglas World Cruisers in 1924 that were built right here at the Santa Monica Airport. This area is available for meetings and conferences and is known as the Douglas Aircraft Executive Suite which includes the Boardroom, the Reception Parlor and the Screening room.
Outdoor Aircraft Display Plaza
Situated directly in front of the Museum, the display plaza has direct access to the airside of the Santa Monica Airport. This allows us to have occasional rotating or visiting air-worthy aircraft on display which means that no two visits to the Museum will be exactly the same.
The Aircraft & Aircraft Displays